States across the country are working to finalize their final Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment funding proposals to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration by the September 4, 2025, deadline. The state of Louisiana is leading the charge to close the digital divide as the first state in the nation to release its final draft […]
This Week In Waste – August 22, 2025
Welcome to This Week in Waste, a series by Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) that highlights how taxpayer dollars are being wasted in the federal, state, and local levels of government and efforts to fight back against this spendthrift behavior. Universal Service Fund Remains Ripe for Reform The Universal Service Fund (USF) remains outdated, wasteful, and […]
Universal Service Fund Remains Ripe for Reform
Since the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was enacted into law, household broadband users in the United States have increased from 50 percent to 96 percent. The Act established the Universal Service Fund (USF), which includes the Lifeline, High-Cost, Rural Healthcare, and E-Rate programs, to help increase access to broadband. The Act also gave the Universal […]
This Week In Waste – August 15, 2025
Welcome to This Week in Waste, a series by Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) that highlights how taxpayer dollars are being wasted in the federal, state, and local levels of government and efforts to fight back against this spendthrift behavior. GAO Reconfirms Federal IT Must Be Modernized The federal government spends more than $100 billion each […]
Senate HELP Committee Hearing Highlights Need to Reform 340B
The 340B Drug Discount Program was created in 1992 to help federally funded clinics and public hospitals that serve a large uninsured population cover the cost of drugs and provide discounts to patients. But the lack of guardrails on the program and failure to define a patient has led to it being abused by hospitals […]
GAO Reconfirms Federal IT Must Be Modernized
The federal government annually spends more than $100 billion for information technology (IT), 80 percent of which is used to operate and maintain existing systems, some of which are more than 50 years old. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) first placed IT modernization on its High Risk List in 2015, and Citizens Against Government Waste […]
States Should Refrain from Bulk Billing Bans
Providing broadband service at the lowest price to the largest possible number of Americans should be a bipartisan effort, and laws or regulations that impede that objective should be avoided. In one of his first decisions as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Brendan Carr withdrew a March 5, 2024, notice of proposed rulemaking […]
DOGE on the Hill: Sniffing Out Waste in Congress
On President Trump’s first day in office, he issued an executive order establishing of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). As of July 26, 2025, DOGE estimated that its actions and recommendations, including the cancellation of contracts and grants, asset sales, and workforce reductions, if fully implemented, would save $199 billion, or $1,236 per taxpayer. […]
This Week In Waste – August 8, 2025
Welcome to This Week in Waste, a series by Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) that highlights how taxpayer dollars are being wasted in the federal, state, and local levels of government and efforts to fight back against this spendthrift behavior. Markwayne Mullin Wants to Make 340B Work for Oklahomans The 340B Drug Pricing Program, originally designed […]
Markwayne Mullin Wants to Make 340B Work for Oklahomans
The federal 340B Drug Pricing Program was intended to provide discounts on drugs to patients but the lack of a clear intent and patient definition, along with inadequate oversight, has led to the program being exploited by hospitals and contract pharmacies to generate millions of dollars in profit. The discounts are supposed to be provided […]